A day in the life of a...Digital Designer

Bio: I've always had the art bug and
skipped off to art college at 18 without too many practical
concerns (Damien Hirst was a millionaire wasn't he?). I studied a
BA (Hons) in Graphic Design and Art History in Dublin. When I
graduated I landed a job with a big multinational photography
company, where I learnt a lot about image processing and commercial
image trends working with the production services team. Seeing the
growth of digital advertising there I went on to study for an MSc
in Interactive Digital Media at Trinity College Dublin, where I
picked up programming and interaction design skills. I worked as a
freelance designer and as a digital project manager with a web
agency in Dublin for a while, before starting with Greenlight when
I moved to London a little over a year ago.

Describe your role within Greenlight and a summary
of what you do.

Design briefs in all shapes and sizes turn up on my desk at
Greenlight and there is a great amount of variety in the work that
we get. One day I might be doing illustrations for an infographic
and the next I could be creating invitations for an Outreach event
or designing a new blog for a client.

What skills does do you need in your
role?

You need to be a bit of a 'Jekyll and Hyde' to succeed as a web
designer. First you need to have fluffy creative skills to come up
with a great design concept, and then you need to pull out some
serious technical skills to make your ideas actually happen using
software and code. It's also essential to have time-management and
communication skills and a heap of determination.

Describe a typical working
day...

7am: Still dozing happily in my bed! I live a
15 minute walk from the office, so I probably won't be awake for
almost another hour...which is just as well as I tend to be a bit
of a night owl.

9am: I usually get straight into reading my
emails and checking a few staple web design blogs for trends and
news. Next, I'll check my tickets in Assembla and get through any
small or urgent tasks first so I have a good stretch of the day
free to focus on larger design projects.

11am: I'm in the zone. At this stage I'm
completely immersed in trying to design an eye-catching solution
for the latest brief I'm working on. At the moment our team is busy
with loads of Christmas campaigns so I'm doing digital
illustrations of some Christmas decorations and animating them
using CSS3 transitions.

1pm: It's lunch time and my eyes are starting
to go square. I usually get out for a quick stroll and a sandwich
around Spitalfields Market or head to the gym for a class if
there's time.

3pm: I've been making good headway into the
latest campaign and now it's time for a creative brainstorming
meeting with some account managers and copywriters for the next
project coming down the line. It really helps to have a chance to
bounce ideas off other team mates.

5pm: I just got some feedback from a client on
an infographic that is nearly finished, so I quickly make a few
requested tweaks and changes to the design, before sending the
updated version back over to the account manager for
approval.

6pm: I'm either on my way home to do some more
drawing and doodling in front of the TV or if it's later in the
week heading out around east London with friends...usually to find
a good exhibition opening with free wine
somewhere!

What do you like/dislike about your
job?

Like: It's brilliant to be able to get up and do something that
I'm passionate about every day.

Dislike: Sitting in front of a computer for too long and getting
square eyes! Most of my best work starts when I'm sitting down with
a pen and paper, or bouncing ideas off team mates so I try hard not
to get completely glued to my monitor all day.

What advice would you give to a budding digital
designer?

Work hard, and just keep on being productive and creative!
Potential employers don't want to hear about what you can do, they
want you to show them, so building up a great portfolio is
essential. Being able to code well too will give you an extra
competitive edge.